The Plodcast

We head into the city this week with urban naturalist Amanda Tuke. Amanda is a champion of the nature on your doorstep so Plodcast host Fergus Collins met her outside Cardiff Central station to begin a quest to find wildlife on a ramble through the busy city. Listen on for a Plodcast full of surprises.Amanda's book Wild Pavements: Exploring Britain's Cities with an Urban Naturalist is published by FLINT.Photo by Lily WattsGet in touch on Facebook! Search "BBC Countryfile Magazine - Plodcast Community" or join the discussion here: https://www.facebook.com...

Late afternoon meets the first tendrils of dusk and the oakwoods are empty of people. Instead, birdsong fills the half-light beneath the trees: song thrush, great tit, chiffchaff and blackbird weave their spring melodies into an enchantment. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Fergus Collins and introduced by Hannah Tribe. Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more about your...

Head into a quiet, magical corner of Herefordshire to meet artists Jackie Morris and Tamsin Abbott who have collaborated to create Wild Folk: Tales From the Stones – stories of folklore, of nature, of landscape, love and sorrow. Plodcast host Fergus Collins was lucky enough to meet the pair and hear their own wild tales – plus some enchanting readings from the book.Wild Folk: Tales from the Stones is published by Chelsea Green and is out now.For more on Jackie Morris' work visit: www.jackiemorris.co.ukFor more on Tamsin Abbott's work: www.tamsinabbott.co.u...

It's a hazy morning on the South-West coast. The sun's rays disperse across the silent waves, glittering over passing boats. A choir of birds greet you, as you sit and watch the world awaken.BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Lewis Dobbs and introduced by Hannah Tribe. Photo by Lewis Dobbs.Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more abou...

Painter John Constable (1776-1837) is today one of the most celebrated painters of the English countryside. But in his lifetime his efforts to capture the true essence of nature and rural life were often rejected by his peers. What made him so special and why is he so revered now?Now, on the 250th anniversary of Constable's birth, Plodcast host Fergus Collins meets art historian Susan Owen in 'Constable Country' on the Suffolk-Essex border to explore the great artists' world.Susan Owens' brilliant new book Constable's Year: An Artist in Changing Seasons is published by Thames and...

A cool dawn, dew-dampened and soft air. In these folds of West Dorset, it will be another hour before the sun reaches above the sharp-edged ridge in the south east, but below, where the blackthorn blossom is almost spent, the birds are in full voice.The familiar voices, blackbird, song thrush and robin, now joined now by visitors from further south, the blackcap, chiffchaff and garden warbler, all singing for space as beneath a spring sends a stream away upon its first trickle. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside t...

Come metal-detecting in the Essex countryside with Ellie Bruce and Lucy Gray – who call themselves Roman Found. After taking up detecting during the first Covid lockdown, Lucy and Ellie have been sharing their exciting discoveries on social media and built up a huge following. Now they have written their first book: Thing We Found in the Ground (Harper North)Plodcast host Fergus joined Ellie and Lucy for a morning's detecting – and to learn more about the world of detectorists. They even found something...Our Facebook page is back! Search "BBC Countryfile Magazine - Plodcast Community" or join the...

A track winds up onto a bleak hill top – or it looks from afar. As you get closer, you realise the land is rich in bilberries, heather and small, stunted hawthorns. Soon you are in the skylark zone – with meadow pipits singing their hearts out alongside their more famous avian cousins. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Fergus Collins and introduced by Hannah Tribe. Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the...

This week we're in the Malverns in Worcestershire to try to find Britain's only venomous snake – the adder. Plodcast host Fergus Collins is guided by local adder expert Nigel Hand, who has spent much of his life working to protect these increasingly rare reptiles.Discover the secret life of the adder and learn why we need to respect – and even love – this springtime jewel.Photo: Steve SayersOur Facebook page is back! Search "BBC Countryfile Magazine - Plodcast Community" or join the discussion here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/countryfilemagazineplodcast/?ref=shareThe BBC Countryfile Magazi...

A gentle walk at this time of year can suddenly throw up a surprise. A firecrest! The thin, accelerating song of Britain's smallest bird pipes among the robins, wood pigeons and blackbirds. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Fergus Collins and introduced by Hannah Tribe. Image by GettyEmail the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more about your ad choi...

Come with us through the high security gates of a flooded quarry in the Forest of Dean to explore Deep project. Here, in the deep waters of the quarry, DEEP is experimenting with creating habitats for long-term human existence underwater. Plodcast host Fergus Collins meets Phil Short, DEEP's underwater research and training lead for a tour of this futuristic mission and its engineering wonders.Learn more about DEEP at https://www.deep.com/Photo: DEEPOur Facebook page is back! Search "BBC Countryfile Magazine - Plodcast Community" or join the discussion here: https://www.facebook...

Watching ripples of river water swirl and overlap, you allow your mind to wander. The clear water’s constant stream is hypnotic as it makes the vivid green algae dance. The proud chirpings of birdsong send you into comfortable doze.BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Lewis Dobbs and introduced by Hannah Tribe.Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn...

It's night in the woods deep in the Cotswold Hills. Plodcast host Fergus joins friend and environmental writer James Fair to see if they can witness the great spring toad migration, where toads leave their winter hideouts and head across land in huge numbers to find a pond or lake to breed in. Have the daring duo left it too late? What will they find on this nocturnal ramble?Our Facebook page is back! Search "BBC Countryfile Magazine - Plodcast Community" or join the discussion here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/countryfilemagazineplodcast/?ref=shareThe BBC...

As dusk falls and human activity finally slows in a small market town, a blackbird decides now's the time to release his latest album of lullabies. Slow, beguiling and wistful, his songs lifts the spirits of all within earshot.BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Fergus Collins and introduced by Hannah Tribe. Image by GettyEmail the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com <p...

Join the Plodcast team for a new fishing adventure, this time on the Kennet and Avon Canal in Berkshire. Writer, angler and naturalist Kevin Parr joins Fergus, Hannah, Jack and Lewis to see if they can catch an elusive but beautiful predator of the waterways. Better still, they've been given special access to a normally private stretch of this famous canal. Listen on for a truly breathtaking encounter – and make sure you listen to the very end to hear the surprising finale to the adventure.Our Facebook page is back! Search "BBC Countryfile Magazine - Plodcast Community" or...

A rare day of sun across the lake transforms late winter into a hint of spring. Canada geese stir and honk, a great white egret chitters overhead and excitable peeps, churs and hums from the reedbeds suggest nestbuilding and courtship among the waterbirds.BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Fergus Collins and introduced by Hannah Tribe. Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com <...

Award-winning countryside writer Nicola Chester joins the Plodcast this week in her home village of Inkpen in Berkshire to talk about her new book, Ghosts of the Farm. In this amazing story, she weaves her own rural experiences with those of pioneering local farmer Julia White, who farmed in Inkpen in the 1940s and 50s and oversaw fundamental changes to agriculture and the landscape that have enormous ramifications today. Plodcast host Fergus Collins was lucky enough to venture out with Nicola to walk Julia's fields.Nicola's book, Ghosts of the Farm, is published by Chelsea Green Publishing. <...

After a long day, green fingers are calling. Sat beside a quiet allotment, you take in the gentle breeze. Watching over the freshly sprouting veg and blooming bulbs, you're soothed by the murmur of fellow growers.BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Jack Bateman and introduced by Hannah Tribe. Image by GettyEmail the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: theplodcast@countryfile.com Learn more...

Could you go coldwater swimming in the depths of winter? James Fair attempts to do just that in lake deep in the Cotswolds. He joins his wife Louise and four of her friends to hear about how swimming in freshwater, whatever the temperature, has a hugely positive impact on physical and mental health. It's an inspiring adventure.Later, join the regular Plodcast team of Fergus, Hannah, Jack and Lewis in the studio for a roundup of your messages, audio postcards and other nature nattering,Our Facebook page is back! Search "BBC Countryfile Magazine - Plodcast Community" or...

Down a windy track in a small valley at the very point where Herefordshire meets Wales, you find a watermill, restored and still working. As water from the leat gushes onto the wheel, it slowly creaks into life. At first, you marvel at the throb of the wheels and gears within the mill before relaxing to the steady pulse of the wheel itself. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be. Recorded by Fergus Collins and introduced by...